Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 513 of 619

Ajax climbed the last stair with his father's blade drawn. Marco went ahead, reading the guard's mind. Chalam followed with a vial ready. At the top, one guard stood outside a wood door. Marco raised a hand, then closed his fist. The guard's eyes went blank. He slid down the wall and sat, staring at nothing. "He'll wake with no memory of us," Marco said quietly. He pushed the door open. The woman sat at a wide table, papers spread before her. She wore a dark coat with red thread at the collar. Gray streaked her hair. She did not rise or call out. She looked at Ajax, then at Marco, then set down her pen. "You came yourself," she said. "I thought you'd send men." Ajax stepped inside. Chalam took the corner, satchel open. Marco stood at Ajax's shoulder, watching her face. "You bought my keepers," Ajax said. "You sent hunters for my dock." "I sent for your harbor," she said. "The trade you carry north. My house wants the road you built." She folded her hands. "You have no house behind you here. No wall. Just three men in my hall." Marco tapped Ajax's arm once. A lie somewhere in it. Ajax kept his eyes on her. "She's counting her guards," Marco said. "Six in the yard. She thinks they'll hear a shout." The woman's mouth tightened. She had not expected a reader. "They won't hear you," Ajax said. "The stair's held. The door's held." He set the blade on the table between them, flat, in reach. "You reached across the sea to take what's mine. Now tell me who's behind you." She said nothing. Marco leaned closer, listening. "A house in the north quarter," Marco said. "She answers to a council of five. They want the northern city's fur trade whole. Ajax's route cuts their price." He paused. "She's the hand. Not the head." Ajax picked the blade back up. The woman watched it rise. "Kill me and five more come," she said. "You can't hold a route this long alone." "I don't kill you," Ajax said. "You go home. You tell your five that the water's empty where they looked. No dock. No gate. Their men saw cliff and sailed past." He leaned down. "You tell them Silvermoor buys and sells, and no one will find where it lands." Chalam spoke from the corner. "She'll not remember the words true. I can see to that." Ajax nodded. "Wipe the room. The face. Leave her the message only." Chalam crossed the floor. He touched chalk to the woman's brow and spoke three low words. Her eyes clouded. Marco held her still in her chair while the working took. When it was done she sat blinking, a merchant who had dozed at her table. Ajax sheathed the blade. He had the name of the threat now, and the shape of it. Five in the north, and a route they could not find. "Down," Ajax said. "Before her guards wonder."